Shares in Goodman Fielder, Australia’s largest baker, rose
the most on record Feb. 28 after Wilmar said it had paid A$115
million ($120 million) for a tenth of the company and was
deciding whether to increase its holding.

A bid for Goodman Fielder, with a current market valuation
of A$1.09 billion, would have been the biggest takeover by the
Singapore-based company since it announced a $1.54 billion bid
for Australian sugar company Sucrogen Ltd. in 2010. Goodman
Fielder has been squeezed by a price war between Woolworths Ltd.
and Wesfarmers Ltd (WES).-owned Coles, which together comprise about
80 percent of Australia’s supermarket sector, and by wheat
prices that have risen 33 percent this year.

“We were planning to make a bid but our price was lower
than what the board wanted,” Kuok Khoon Hong, Wilmar’s chief
executive officer, said in a briefing in Singapore today. “The
price went further and they still wanted the same price, so we
decided not to do anything about it.”

Wilmar would be prepared to sell its stake “at a good
price”, he said.

Goodman Fielder is currently trading at 55.5 Australian
cents, about 4 percent below the price Wilmar paid, having
jumped 13 percent in the past two days after saying it was in
exclusive talks with a bidder for its Integro oils and fats
unit, with a deal expected by the end of August.